Casinos in Los Angeles – Closest One with Map

The greater Los Angeles area has 5 counties, 18 million people, 503 square miles of land, and one casino.

To clarify, we’re talking about casinos with slot machines.

There are several nearby cardrooms in Los Angeles, however they are just cardrooms only. What makes it confusing is that many of these cardrooms have the word “casino” in their name.

San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino is the closest casino to Los Angeles

However we’re just focusing here on the closest more traditional casino to L.A. – one with slots, craps, and the like. Per California law, cardrooms are different entities, are not allowed to have slot machines, video poker machines, or craps and roulette.

That being the case, there is one casino near Los Angeles.

It’s the spacious San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino, east of L.A. in Highland, in San Bernardino County. It’s an Indian casino on tribal land situated sixty-three miles due east of downtown Los Angeles.

(The red star in the map below represents the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, while the yellow star represents the Pechanga Resort & Casino)

More about San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino

With 4,200 slot machines, 100 plus table games (not including the 35 table poker room), and 220,000 square feet of casino floor space, San Manuel is one of the largest casinos in the United States.

There are some quirks with Indian gaming. Although the casino is open 24 hours a day, alcohol service stops at 1:15 AM. In addition, the craps game is card-based, rather than determined by a dice toss (although the odds are the same).

Inside the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino

Opened in 1986, the since-expanded and remodeled two-story casino has three sit down restaurants (including a buffet), a taco stand, food court, several bars, and entertainment and concert venues. However there is not a hotel here.

Unlike Las Vegas Strip properties, parking at the San Manuel is free at all of their 3,400 parking spaces.

You must be 21 years of age or older to enter the casino.

Address and phone:

777 San Manuel Boulevard
Highland, CA 92346

(800) 359-2464

The San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino is the closest casino with slot machines to the vast majority of towns in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.

However cities well to the south (Mission Viejo), or to the north (Oxnard), do have some closer options, which we’ll cover below.

Pechanga Resort & Casino

For the vast majority of L.A. area communities, the second closest casino is Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula.

Although it’s a beautiful-looking property, with 4,000 slot machines, 154 table games, 188,000 square feet of casino floor space, and over 1,000 hotel rooms (when current construction is completed), this resort is a good 90 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

For many gamblers however, especially those in more southern L.A. cities, the difference in driving distance between San Manuel and Pechanga is just an extra ten or so miles each way.

Cardrooms in Los Angeles

As mentioned above, while there is only one casino close to L.A., there are several cardrooms in the area. These businesses mostly cater to poker players, however most have California blackjack games, along with other table games.

The largest of these, L.A. area cardrooms, The Commerce Casino in Commerce, has 270 tables. This blows away the number of table games found at more traditional casinos in California, and Las Vegas, for that matter. Again, these cardrooms do not have slot machines.

(Each colored star represents one of the seven cardrooms in the L.A. area)

Distances from Los Angeles area cities to their closest casino

Below are the distances from L.A. area cities to the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino (first number), and Pechanga Resort & Casino (second figure).

Anaheim: 56 miles – 66 miles
Burbank: 67 miles – 98 miles
Carson: 79 miles – 89 miles
Compton: 71 miles – 83 miles
Corona: 35 miles – 42 miles
Costa Mesa: 65 miles – 74 miles
Downey: 64 miles – 81 miles
El Monte: 52 miles – 76 miles
Fullerton: 58 miles – 66 miles
Garden Grove: 61 miles – 71 miles
Glendale: 63 miles – 94 miles
Huntington Beach: 70 miles – 79 miles
Inglewood: 79 miles – 95 miles
Irvine: 58 miles – 67 miles
Lancaster: 95 miles – 144 miles
Long Beach: 77 miles – 88 miles

Mission Viejo: 64 miles – 59 miles
Moreno Valley – 27 miles – 43 miles *
Newport Beach: 67 miles – 76 miles
Norwalk: 64 miles – 75 miles
Ontario: 29 miles – 59 miles
Orange: 54 miles – 64 miles
Palmdale: 84 miles – 132 miles
Pasadena: 56 miles – 86 miles
Pomona: 37 miles – 61 miles
Riverside: 23 miles – 47 miles
Santa Ana: 58 miles – 68 miles
Santa Clarita: 89 miles – 119 miles **
Santa Monica: 81 miles – 103 miles
Torrance: 83 miles – 92 miles
Tustin: 56 miles – 66 miles
West Covina: 47 miles – 71 miles.

*The closest casino to Moreno Valley is the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, just 23 miles away.

**The 2nd closest casino to Santa Clarita is the Chumash Casino, at 108 miles away.